Adjectives

Agreement

__Adjectival agreement __

French adjectives agree in gender and number with the noun they describe. This means that the exact shape of the adjective will change, depending on whether the noun is masculine or feminine (gender) and singular or plural (number).

masc sing - petit

fem sing - petite

masc pl - petits

fem pl - petites

The feminine form of an adjective is often created by adding an ‘e’ to the masculine form:

_grand – grande allemand – allemande _

The plural form is most often formed by simply adding an –s to the masculine or feminine form:

grands - grandes allemands – allemandes

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A number of masculine adjectives already end in an –e. In these cases, the feminine form remains the same. This also means the two plurals will look the same:

masc sing - calme

fem sing - calme

masc pl - calmes

fem pl - calmes

There are a few other regular patterns of change between masculine and feminine adjectives: